A general slice of life from a 40 soon to be 50 something husband, father, mountain biker,... Whatever I am into, I am REALLY into. Life is always better with gear. This blog follows my interests to a high level of mumbo jumbo detail

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Pasta review

A food review? Well food is as much a part of cycling as any component. Many of us got hooked on cycling because it allowed you to eat like a maniac without getting too huge. Each epic ride was license to eat like an American. Only problem is when your riding time goes down but you continue to eat like you used to. It was a tough one to curtail my eating when my riding diminshed.

Pasta is the Duke of New York A#1 with most cyclists. My wife is a nutritionist. I am not. If it wasn't for her I'd be living in a gutter surrounded by Reese's and Wonder bread. Without her I'd be eating regular pasta fully refined. With her look where I am now. Alive, healthy and eating protein enriched pasta.

The thing is most regular refined pasta is junk when it comes to being nutritious. But some of the wheat pasta tastes about as good as cardboard. (There is a new pasta blend of wheat / refined that I'll review shortly)

This pasta here is cool because it is protein fortified.

* remember when you read food labels to take special note of the SERVING SIZE as it most likely is smaller than what you normally eat for a real world serving. I bet the serving size listed on a Reese's is 1/2 of a cup. That's how they stick it to you. It all how you spin it.*

I tried the low carb thing out for about a day or two. Always looking for the next magic bullet I am. But there was just no way it was going to work with this endurance athlete. I did learn, however, that I do much better with some more protein in addition to my carbs. I remember eating a bowl or two of cereal and then riding into work (<1/2 hr) and being light headed and bonked by the time I got there. After throwing an egg white in I felt much better.

This pasta doesn't taste all that good. A little on the bland side so plan on some good sauce and some Parm. cheese. It has to cook a little longer due to the added protein. But you get some serious protein in this traditionally only carb food.